Having followed recent developments in Colombia closely, the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights hopes that the changes that the Constitution and
the efforts of all Colombians have succeeded in introducing in the country's
political and legal structure will, once the problems pointed out in this report
have been corrected, help bring an end to the terrible crisis of violence and
human rights violations in Colombia and consolidate peace and democracy in the
nation.

From this Report, the Commission draws the following conclusions:

1) With the political and legal system instituted with the 1991 Constitution,
significant progress has been made in the law to define and recognize human
rights. The progress that the provisions of the Constitution represent, however,
was tempered by the specific and generic laws enacted immediately after passage
of the new Constitution to regulate those provisions. Those laws stipulate certain
restrictions on the exercise of the human rights embodied both in the new Constitution
and in the American Convention.

2) These restrictions, which would be excessive even in a normal situation,
become that much more excessive when states of emergency are declared during
which the remedies to protect one's rights are not available. Moreover, much
of the temporary legislation issued under the state of emergency has become
permanent law, as in the case of secret or public order courts; their institutionalization
goes against Colombian domestic law as well as international human rights agreements
binding upon Colombia.[1]

3) The exercise of human rights was restricted as a consequence of this situation
and the remedies instituted to protect those rights were debilitated. But this
was all possible because the presence of the military courts and the proceedings
conducted on the cases remanded to military jurisdiction effectively eroded
the authority of the judicial branch. The entire situation has meant a grievous
violation of the right to a fair trial.

4) The military tribunals do not guarantee that the right to a fair trial
will be observed, since they do not have the independence that is a condition
sine qua non for that right to be exercised. Moreover, their rulings have frequently
been biased and have failed to punish members of the security forces whose involvement
in very serious human rights violations has been established.[2]

5) To this violation of the right to a fair trial must be added the serious
constraints imposed on due process, particularly in evidence in the handling
of petitions filed to protect the various human rights being affected, leaving
the individuals concerned defenseless vis-à-vis the measures adopted by the
political power.

6) The Commission believes that violations of the right to life have reached
alarming proportions in Colombia in recent years. There is a clear political
element in these violations of the right to life, since many of the victims
have been individuals whose political positions are at variance with the Government's
position or who have stated publicly their disagreement with the Government.
These violations of the right to life have involved enforced disappearance,
individual and collective summary executions and other atrocities discussed
in this report.[3]

7) The evidence compiled by the IACHR and explained in the chapter on the
right to personal safety and humane treatment points to the fact that torture,
as a practice, has not been sufficiently investigated or punished. This is confirmed
by the fact that virtually no public officials have been punished for their
participation in torture.

8) The Commission believes that the right to personal liberty is seriously
imperiled, particularly during states of emergency when almost all the remedies
that protect human rights cannot be invoked.

9) The violations of the right to personal liberty frequently involve a failure
to observe the legal formalities required when making arrests; arresting agents
often do not identify themselves, do not have a valid arrest warrant or fail
to show it. Compounding this are the physical restraints imposed upon many individuals
taken into custody, in order to prevent them from identifying the place to which
they are being taken or certain detention facilities.

10) The Commission has observed a marked increase in violations of union rights
with enforcement of laws that are clearly at odds with the international instruments
in force in Colombia on this subject. The right to strike, the right to associate
for union purposes and the right to collective bargaining have been violated.
Most serious of all is how the violations of the right to life are affecting
the activities of union members.

11) It should also be noted that in Colombia the union movement has been one
of the sectors hardest hit by the arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances
and assassinations.

12) The Commission has established that the agencies that defend human rights
function under particularly adverse circumstances, because their activities
are considered to be politically motivated or are viewed as a cover for subversive
groups.

13) In addition to condemning all the excesses of State agents that are the
cause of the serious human rights violations to which this report refers, the
Commission is just as emphatic in its condemnation of the terrible aggression
perpetrated against the Colombian people by irregular armed groups. The Commission
considers the use of terrorism, whatever its form, to be utterly reprehensible,
as are blackmail, extortion, kidnapping, torture and assassination as political
weapons. Just as serious and indefensible is the destruction of the social infrastructure
and the pollution of the environment. No one has the right to wrong the people
of his country in this manner, much less those who profess to be the champions
and defenders of their social causes. Repeated acts that seriously violate human
rights corrupt and delegitimize the work of any human group, however noble its
ideal; the right to social justice or to any other right does not justify the
breach of the preeminent values of the human person.

Based on the foregoing conclusions, the IACHR is making the following recommendations
to the Colombian Government:

1. Under the previous constitution, the State too often declared a state of
emergency. This opinion was one widely shared by those who testified before
the Commission. For more than forty years, Colombians have been subjected to
measures allowed only if a state of emergency has been declared. The new Constitution
has curbed the Executive's authority to decree states of emergency. It would
therefore be best for the Chief Executive henceforth to declare states of emergency
only in truly exceptional, extremely grave cases where the life of the Nation
is imperiled, and thus avoid the tendency to continue to live under exceptional
laws on a permanent basis.

2. However necessary they may have been, the Commission is disturbed by the
two declarations of states of internal disturbance recently ordered by the Colombian
Government. In July 1992, the Government ordered a state of internal disturbance
when a group of prisoners requested release; it also restricted habeas corpus.
Again, by Decree 1793 of November 1992, a state of internal disturbance was
instituted and, on that basis, exceptional measures were ordered. One such measure
was that the criminal-investigation functions of the courts were assigned to
the military. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights would therefore
recommend to the Colombian Government that henceforth it do everything possible
to take the routine administrative measures when events occur of the kind that
prompted the declarations of internal disturbance. States of emergency are to
be reserved for only the most serious matters.

3. As Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, in exercise of the power conferred
upon him by the Constitution (Article 189, paragraph 3) and the authorities
given to him under decrees 095 and 096 of 1989, the President has the authority
to retire, at his discretion, members of the Armed Forces who have been seriously
implicated in human rights violations. The Government of Colombia has used this
constitutional and legal authority in cases of functional or administrative
inefficiency. In cases of serious and obvious violations of basic human rights
by members of the armed forces and to continue measures to protect those rights,
it would be best if the Colombian Government would retire from active service
anyone that an administrative investigation by the Office of the Attorney General
finds to be patently involved or associated with serious cases of fundamental
human rights violations, independently of the court decisions that may eventually
be handed down.

4. The Commission is concerned that under the new Constitution, military jurisdiction
continues to cover members of the Colombian Police. The risks that military
jurisdiction involves can be minimized by establishing a proper set of rules
to curb any abuse. Therefore, it is recommended that the regulations governing
the use of that jurisdiction explicitly exclude acts of torture, extrajudicial
execution and enforced disappearance, and that they specify that such crimes
shall be judged by the ordinary courts. This could be helpful in dealing with
the impunity problem that the military courts in Colombia have thus far posed.

5. The human rights instruction that, under the Constitution, all members
of the police and military are to receive is of the utmost importance. Given
the gravity of the human rights situation in Colombia, the Commission is recommending,
as a matter of priority, strict compliance with that constitutional mandate.

6. The existence of judges "with no faces" and of secret proceedings
to introduce and take testimony from witnesses, to offer and introduce evidence
and expert reports, etc., is contrary to the principles of the American Convention.
Any form of secret justice in Colombia should be eliminated in favor of an across-the-board
strengthening of the justice system, particularly the fundamental guarantees.

7. The democratic organs for judicial inquiry and trial need to be strengthened
in Colombia. A court system that has the proper infrastructure to perform its
function would not need the constant series of judicial reforms that have been
instituted. Creating, even for reasons that the Colombian Government believes
justified, special mechanisms, procedures and structures to try such crimes
as drug trafficking or terrorism has indirectly served to weaken the regular
courts and has eroded public confidence in the courts. Therefore, it would be
better for the Colombian State to try other alternatives. It must strengthen
the courts and set in motion suitable mechanisms to settle the day-to-day conflicts
that arise. The benefit would be twofold: it would discourage the spread of
vigilantism and restore the confidence that Colombians should have in their
system of justice.

8. The newly created Public Defender's Office and the role it plays as guardian
of the people should be strengthened, as these are real guarantees that human
rights will be exercised and defended in Colombia.

9. A new type of examining judge, called a fiscal, was recently added to the
legal system and has an important role to play in investigating crime. Although
judges of this type have the help of the Criminal Investigations Police, it
is also important to establish a very modern police corps. Its members must
have a solid background in law and civil rights to ensure that they are mindful
and respectful of human rights when conducting criminal investigations. Members
of military and police intelligence should not be members of this police corps,
as they have so often been accused of abusing private citizens and violating
fundamental rights.

10. Decisions that affect the fundamental guarantees of individuals accused
of crimes should be taken only after consulting with the judge hearing the case.
Under the new criminal procedure system in Colombia, the fiscal can make certain
decisions about releasing defendants without consulting the judge. This system
should be changed to ensure that the Colombian State is in compliance with the
principles of the American Convention.

11. In criminal proceedings, it is important that the victims of the violence
or human rights violations have the opportunity to participate actively, from
the start of the investigations. The existing provisions of the code of criminal
procedure are similar to the previous code and do not allow victims to participate
in the inquiries conducted by the public prosecutor's office until an indictment
or arrest warrant is handed down. But no indictment or arrest warrant can be
issued until the identity of the individual accused of violating the criminal
law is established. So, because the victims (those most likely to be able to
identify their assailants) are not permitted to participate, individuals guilty
of violating basic rights often go unpunished. Therefore, the codes of criminal
procedure and military criminal justice should be amended to allow the victims
to participate from the start of the investigations.

12. The existing criminal laws do not classify enforced disappearance as a
crime. Therefore, to elaborate upon the provisions of the new Constitution,
Article 12 of which provides for and prohibits enforced disappearance, a law
must be enacted to make it a criminal offense and stipulate punishment.

13. As for the protection of personal liberty, the necessary mechanisms must
be implemented to keep a national record of detainees in order to make certain
that the civil rights and judicial guarantees of every individual detained are
respected.

14. The Colombian State must take all necessary measures to guarantee its
citizens' right to life. The Commission would especially urge that paramilitary
and self-defense groups be dismantled once and for all and that the serious
violence and human rights violations perpetrated by such groups be investigated
and punished.

15. Because the rights of workers to form and join unions and to associate
for lawful purposes are being violated, the IACHR is recommending to the Colombian
Government that it give the members of labor unions and union officials effective
guarantees of their rights to form and join unions, their freedom of association,
and their right to life, personal safety and humane treatment.

16. Another issue that is of great concern to the IACHR concerns the limitations
on freedom of information and expression in Colombia. The Commission would particularly
like to draw the Government's attention to Decree 1812, of 1992, which allows
censorship of the press under certain circumstances. It would be best if freedom
of information in Colombia were not restricted by exceptional rules that are
themselves contrary to the American Convention.

17. As to the open warfare between the armed forces and guerrilla groups,
which has claimed countless innocent victims among the civilian population,
the IACHR believes it is imperative that the rules of international humanitarian
law be observed, particularly Article 3 of all the 1949 Geneva Conventions;
it also believes that consideration should be given to acceding to the Additional
Protocol II of the Geneva Conventions, which concerns the protection of victims
in armed conflicts that are not international in nature.

18. Respect for ethnic and minority groups is a right recognized in the new
Constitution of Colombia. It is essential that the necessary measures be taken
to enable such groups to survive and develop, and that their ethnic and cultural
diversity be acknowledged.

19. The important work that nongovernmental human rights organizations are
doing to protect, defend and promote the rights of citizens must be supported
and guaranteed by the Colombian Government.

20. Thus far, the IACHR has produced Reports 24/87 (Case 9620), 1/92 (Case
10,235), 32/91 (Case 10,454), 33/91 (Case 10,581), 22/93 (case 9477), case 23/93
(case 10,456) and 24/93 (case 10,537) wherein it recommends to the Colombian
Government that it investigate those cases until it establishes the identity
of those responsible and punishes them for the violations to which each case
refers; that it compensate the victims' next-of-kin and provide effective protection
to witnesses who have risked their lives to help ascertain the facts. The Commission
is deeply disturbed by the Colombian Government's failure to heed those recommendations
and is, therefore, again urging compliance.

Notes____________________

[1] According to a report supplied by the Government, discussed
in the pertinent part of this report, some of the restrictions to which this
conclusion refers have been declared unconstitutional.

[2] The Second Report of the Office of the Attorney General
of the Nation, cited in Chapter IV in the discussion of military justice, makes
reference to the reasons for this problem.

[3] "The number of Government-associated victims is as
high as the number of victims among the opposition; there are areas in the grips
of local civil wars and the victims are on both sides." Observations and
comments of the Government of Colombia on the Report of the IACHR.